Basket-style carriers are commonly employed to package beverage bottles. They conventionally include a separate cell for each bottle, from which the bottles can be readily removed, and a center handle partition for easily carrying the package. The carriers are fabricated from a blank which is folded and glued into collapsed carrier form, after which the collapsed carrier is erected and the bottles inserted. In one design the collapsed carrier includes a bottom panel, so that when the collapsed carrier is erected the bottom panel is in place to support bottles inserted down through the open cells. In another design the bottom panel is formed by connecting bottom panel flaps together after the bottles have been inserted into the cells. To insert the bottles into the cells in this latter design the collapsed carrier must not only be opened, but must be maintained open until the bottles are inserted far enough into the carrier to themselves hold the carrier open. Normally, packaging machine elements are made to initially maintain the carrier in open condition until the bottles are inserted to this point. This complicates the design of the packaging machine, however, and can be a limitation on the speed of the machine.
A carrier structure which makes use of integral retainer tabs on the carrier for maintaining an erected carrier in open condition as the bottles are being loaded is disclosed in copending patent application Ser. No. 08/260,848, filed Jun. 16, 1994. The retainer tabs disclosed in that application are maintained in operative condition by their contact with an adjacent riser panel or handle panel, and are applicable to basket-style carriers which include article-receiving cells formed by either straps or full partition panels. The side and end panels of the carrier extend down to the bottom panel to fully surround the packaged articles and the handle panel is of conventional four-ply construction.
Not all basket-style carriers need to provide such full protection to the packaged articles. For example, plastic beverage bottles need not be separated by partitions since contact with adjacent bottles does not result in breakage. Although eliminating the partitions is advantageous from an economical point of view, the design of a carrier with no partitions also eliminates structure required in the design disclosed in the above-mentioned application for holding the retainer tabs in operative condition. The most efficient layout of the carrier blank also mitigates against a full four-ply handle. This can present a problem of strength since carriers of this type may be further weakened by eliminating the lower portions of the end panels in order to expose the bottom portions of the end bottles. Such exposure is desirable when the bottles are of a distinctive shape which is suggestive of the brand of beverage, in which case it is advantageous to allow not only the upper portions of the bottles to be seen but the lower portions of the end bottles as well.
It is an object of the invention to provide a partitionless basket-style carrier with structure for maintaining the erected carrier in open condition during loading. It is another object to provide a carrier of this type which permits the lower portions of the end packaged articles to be exposed to view. Still another object is to provide such a carrier which includes a four-ply handle panel.